Dumb, but: do you really need a telecom company to get a home internet connection?

[lefen]

Ok, I'm sure that there are a number of fundamental reasons why this is a stupid question, but here goes:

Is there actually any reason why you need to pay a telecom company who have set themselves up as an 'ISP' to get conventional internet access?

See, it occurred to me that those of us who pay for web hosting are renting a box, or space on it, that's connected to the internet without a conventional ISP. So where do web hosting companies get their internet access/bandwidth from? I'm sure that a lot must just resell from other, bigger providers and so-on up the chain. But where does it end? What's at the top?

So, is there any reason why I couldn't plug my modem directly into this mysterious source of all internet bandwidth (assuming one could get physical access, which I suspect is the problem)? Then I could just use a service like OpenDNS and be away, right?

Anyone have an idea whether this is even at all possible in theory? Or do ISP's provide too much internet voodoo for a single person to go it alone?

Thanks for indulging me ;)

[kutjara]

Ok, I'm sure that there are a number of fundamental reasons why this is a stupid question, but here goes:

Is there actually any reason why you need to pay a telecom company who have set themselves up as an 'ISP' to get conventional internet access?

See, it occurred to me that those of us who pay for web hosting are renting a box, or space on it, that's connected to the internet without a conventional ISP. So where do web hosting companies get their internet access/bandwidth from? I'm sure that a lot must just resell from other, bigger providers and so-on up the chain. But where does it end? What's at the top?

So, is there any reason why I couldn't plug my modem directly into this mysterious source of all internet bandwidth (assuming one could get physical access, which I suspect is the problem)? Then I could just use a service like OpenDNS and be away, right?

Anyone have an idea whether this is even at all possible in theory? Or do ISP's provide too much internet voodoo for a single person to go it alone?

Thanks for indulging me ;)

As a consumer, you're pretty much stuck with the choice between a telco, a cable company, or a satellite operator. The only other choice is to steal a neighbor's wifi if they're foolish enough to leave it unsecured.

I suppose, in theory, if you could find an ISP willing to connect directly to you, and if you were willing to spend the hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars necessary to dig up the roads and lay cable between your residence and the ISP's premises, not to mention the requirement to purchase major networking hardware to connect to the ISPs switches, you could avoid the need for a carrier. But it's not really practical. And, anyway, the ISP themesleves will be connected to the rest of the Net using a major telco's backbone network.